Wednesday, 30 December 2015

The pattern is Simplicity 5772 and the date of publication is 1973.I was planning on making view 1 but at the last minute I decided on view 2.

I made it in a wonderfully slinky black/gold knit fabric. It looks bulkier in the pictures but it's really quite a thin knit with a molten metal, silky kind of feel to it.

The fabric makes it festive enough for the New Year and it's just in time for the end of the Vintage Pattern Pledge!

I was hoping to get some more vintage sewing done this past year, but time just flew by so quickly without me realizing it.....I plan to sew lots more of my vintage patterns in 2016 and I will definately be sharing them here.

As for the turban, I love the way it turned out and now that the weather's turned colder, I'm sure I'll be wearing it a lot.

1. I like to draw my giveaway winners randomly. As far as I'm concerned, any and all answers are equal. There is no merit system to determine a winner and there is no answer that will 'win' a giveaway. A simple comment is needed and then luck takes over as I rely on the Random Number Generator to draw the winners of a giveaway in a totally impartial manner.

The only reason for a re-draw is if the first winner does not respond to my email within a couple of weeks.

As I do not pick friends to win any 'prize', I also definately do not exclude them from winning. If a friend is chosen, it's as due to luck as if a total stranger was. I'm happy for them both!

2. After the winners are drawn, I email them with the announcemant and wait for their reply. If there is no reply within a couple of weeks I may re-draw to find a new winner.

Saturday, 12 December 2015

I may have mentioned this before but these flower keyrings are my go-to present solution for female friends.

I have discovered -to my utter surprise- that not all women like to wear flowers on their person....

And while I cannot fathom why, I'm glad that I haven't yet encountered a woman that does not want a flower on her keychain.

This particular keyring was made for a friend who appreciates a bold flower brooch on her lapel as well but that was covered in my last gift to her. This time it's time for a flower that will always be with her, wherever she goes.

The flower is a mixture of a myriad hues of brown, yellow and white while the leaves are made of two similar golden shades of shantung silk -one on each side.

This one is easy, uses only readily available material and it won't break the bank.

It's also fun to do together with the kids.

The materials you will need are:

-Craft paper (Or any kind of paper that is not too thick and not too thin. Recycling paper bags -like the ones Zara has- from your shopping ventures would also work well for these.)

- Ribbon of your choice

- A marker. I used a black one but you could do it in any colour/s of your choice

- Scissors

- Glue

- Stapler (optional)

- Lids or saucers to be used as templates for the circles drawn within each circular paper.

- A hanger or maybe a piece of driftwood, a stick or anything that you could hang these on. You could even skip the hanging option because these could be hung practicaly anywhere. Even on the Christmas tree itself.

First you need to draw 48 same-size circles on your paper.

Each finished circle pouch is actually a pocket so you need 2 circles for each of the 24 days counted on the advent.

Cut them all out neatly.

I like to keep the original black circle on the outside as part of the design so I cut carefully around it.

Time to draw some circles of varying sizes on the paper circles to help with the drawing in the next step.

Find some lids or saucers that are the size you want, place them carefully on the paper (so that they are centered correctly) and trace around them with your marker.

Then comes my favourite step in the making of the advent, adding the numbers and drawing around them.

Adapt them to your personal style. Make them as similar or as different to each other as you wish, and as minimal or as detailed in design as you want.

I left the back circle of my pouches blank but you could go crazy and decorate both front and back if you like.

Now it's time to put the cicles together so we have to make the ribbon loops.

Cut out 24 pieces of ribbon for the short loop and 24 pieces of ribbon for the long loop.

Mine measure at about 9cm or 3.5 inches for the short one and 24cm or 9.5 inches for the long one.

Take the blank back paper circle and add the little ribbon tab to the inside of it.

You could glue it if you like but you could also use a stapler to cut down on time. (The back circle is not visible on the advent anyway, so a staple is quick and efficient and ultimately invisible.)

Just make sure that the ribbon is placed side by side as shown in the pictures above, to make the threading of the large loop into the smaller one easier when they're finished.

To attach the larger loop onto the front circle of the pouch I chose to glue it because I din't want a staple visible on the front of my circles.

If you do not mind it showing, you can staple your larger loop ribbons onto your numbered circles and save time.

Whichever method you use, make sure that the ribbon is centered onto your circle -use the number to make sure you are attaching it in the exact middle of the top- and that one end is glued directly above the other.

Now you have both front and back circles ready and you must glue them together.

Last year I just used one piece of ribbon and glued the circles shut (after I filled them with their designated content). That meant that the circles had to be ripped apart to get to the surprise inside. Admitedly, it was fun but I was also a little sad that all my hard work was being thrown away.....

So this year I made the circles into pouches so that the advent can be re-used next year -and hopefully the year after that.

This is the step that turns the circles into pouches so if you just want to glue these together and have a little round 'pillow' that can be hung, skip the step shown in the pictures and just glue the circle shut. Don't forget to fill it first though.

If you prefer the re-usable version, turn the numbered circle around and on the back of it mark an area that will be the opening and will remain unglued.

It has to be fairly large so that you can put in and take out of the pouch anything from a piece of paper to a small piece of candy or trinket.

Now put glue around the edge of the rest of the circle and then press the back circle onto it, making sure the tabs ,as well as the two circles themselves, align.

Once you're finished with all the glueing together of circles, you have a 24 day advent to fill as you please!

The pictures above show you how to loop one tab into the other so that the pouch closes securely and can be hung.

I played around with some hanging options and finally settled on the simplicity of a wire hanger.

I thought of just using pegs to clip the pouches on but decided to keep it as uncluttered as possible so I decided to make the hanger itself open and close.

I used wire clippers to cut through the wire on the one sloping side of the hanger and with some pliers I turned the two cut ends into hooks.

This will affect the length of the one side and this in turn will affect the shape of the hanger but it can be easily rectified by bending the bottom of the hanger a bit to make it slightly curved.

Now you have a hanger that can be easily opened and closed every day to un-hang the day's pouch.

Before settling on the hanger option I tried out some other ideas that you can see above and below.

Wednesday, 9 December 2015

The (almost) week-long biannual giveaway event organised and hosted by Sew Mama Sew is once again upon us.

The truth is I was so caught up in all sorts of projects that it slipped my mind.....So I quickly rumaged through my fabric stash and picked out these three floral fabrics that are all very different to each other but all feature pink flowers.

If you win this bundle, here is what you get:1. Hot pink and pale pink flowers with green bold design in natural cotton. Measures 1.5 metres by 81cm or 59 inches by 31 inches.2.Chinese-painting-style synthetic mesh fabric in pink, brown and nude with gold highlights. Floral design changes throughout the fabric. Measures 1 metre by 1.10 metres or 39 inches by 43 inches.3. Dainty pink rose buds on a yellow pastel background. Slinky crepe-like fabric which may or may not be silk. Measures 1.40 metres by 82cm or 55 inches by 32 inches.

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment telling me what you're hoping to find in your stocking this Christmas....Extra -Optional- Entries:To get an extra entry, do any of the following things. Please leave a comment saying you did so for each one you do. (One comment = one entry)1. Visit my Fairytale Flower etsy shop and like any one item.2. Visit my Fairytale Flower etsy shop and add it to your favourites.(If you already have, just leave a comment saying so.) 3. Visit my OnePerfectDay etsy shop and like any one item.4. Visit my OnePerfectDay etsy shop and add it to your favourites.(If you already have, just leave a comment saying so.)5. Follow my blog.Giveaway open until Sunday, December 13.

Friday, 4 December 2015

Turbans have long been a fascination of mine. I find they have a certain air of glamour and mystery no matter how they are worn.Maybe because I associate them with the elegant movie stars of old that used to wear them with that glorious siren quality.

Wednesday, 2 December 2015

I only managed to finish this year's advent calendar in the nick of time but it's done and I'm very happy with it.

And the kid loves it, which is the point really, isn't it?!

There are 24 circular 'pouches' that close on the top by means of ribbons and so are re-usable.

Inside is a piece of paper with a Christmas craft or activity written on it while some may have a small piece of candy or an itsy bitsy festive toy/decoration.(The pictures are taken before the pouches were stuffed so they all lie flat.)

The pouches have two ribbon loops, one short, one long and when you thread the long one into the small one, it closes and secures the opening.

The hanger was tampered with so that I could thread the loops of all the circles through it. I just cut it open with wire cutters on one side and made two hooks that you can open and close as needed.

I made a similar one last year but I filled and then sealed shut each circle with glue, so they had to be torn open to get to the inside which was a shame really given all that work that went into making them....

That's why I made them re-sealable this year. Re-sealable means re-usable and that means less waste - and less work for hard-working mothers....

To see the step-by-step tutorial on how to make this advent calendar, click here.